A new strain of strep bacteria is immune to nearly all antibiotics, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The drug-resistant germ is increasingly cited as the cause of minigitis and pneumonia and other diseases.

During the last eight years, American toddlers have been immunized against Streptococcus pneumoniae, or pneumococcus, an organism that preys largely on children younger than 5 and the aged. This form of pneumoccal meningitis can be fatal, and survivors are often left with lifelong neurological problems.

Initially, the vaccine has worked: by 2002, rates of infection from these bacteria had dropped as much as 80 percent in some places. But progress has now stalled, and infection with a particular type of pneumococcus, Serotype 19A, is steadily rising.

“It’s very much a concern,” said Bernard Beall, a pneumococcal expert at the federal Centers for Disease Control.

Recently, physicians reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association of outbreak of Serotype 19A ear infections in Rochester that could be cured only by surgically implanting tubes, or by turning to adult medicines that were not yet tested for safety in children.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director

Posted: October 14th, 2008 under Developing Diseases, Diseases, Impaired Immunity, Strep Throat.
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The typical reason that adults undergo tonsillectomy is chronic infection. But, according to a new study presented today at a conference in Chicago, kids generally have their tonsils removed to treat obstructed airways.

That’s according to a study presented today in Chicago at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Foundation, the largest gathering of ear, nose and throat specialists.

Tonsillectomy in adults, while far less common than in children, still accounts for one third of all procedures, the doctors said.

To discern the reasons for tonsillectomy in adults and identify factors associated with post-surgery complications, Dr. Elizabeth Kathryn Hoddeson from Emory University in Atlanta and Dr. Christine G. Gourin from Johns Hopkins in Baltimore reviewed the medical records of 361 adults who had their tonsils out between 2001 and 2007.

The data shows that 57 percent of adults had the surgery to treat chronic infection in the tonsils and throat, while 27 percent had the surgery to correct upper airway obstruction caused by enlarged tonsils. In 16 percent of cases, suspected cancer was the reason for the surgery.

A total of 15 percent of the adults presented with complications following the surgery, most often bleeding, followed by pain and dehydration, and admission for low blood-oxygen levels.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director

Tonsil removal for kids.

Posted: September 24th, 2008 under Developing Diseases, Diseases, Impaired Immunity, Strep Throat.
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“Flesh-eating” bacteria are able to thrive in the human body by depressing a significant immune defense molecule, according to doctors at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. The new research may aid in creation of new treatments for serious infections in human patients, and was reported in this week’s issue of the learned journal Cell Host & Microbe.

Senior author, Victor Nizet, MD, a UC San Diego professor of pediatrics and pharmacy and an infectious diseases physician at Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego says that the research team demonstrated that a protease known as SpyCEP (Strep. pyogenes cell envelope protease) – made in large amounts by the most horrid strains of Strep –inactivates an immune system molecule that controls the body’s white blood cells ability to fight bacteria.

Simply put, without signals from this molecule, white blood cells become slower and weaker, and infections can spread out of control.

“These findings may suggest a new approach to treating serious Strep infections by supporting our body’s natural defense system,” says Nizet.

The research concentrates on the major human pathogen group A Streptococcus.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director and Nancy Bruening, Managing Editor

Flesh-eating bacteria thriving.

Posted: August 14th, 2008 under Diseases, Strep Throat.
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